Environmental: April 2009 Archives

The Libby Montana W.R. Grace & Co. environmental trial is in its eighth week with testimony from a government witness that described the imminent risk of asbestos exposure to Libby residents. Expert Richard Lemen said the mineral’s needle-like fibers build in a person’s lungs over time and that the more asbestos one inhales over time, the more they are pushed toward disease.  WesternNews.com reports:

“Asbestos-related disease is dose response related … that is, the higher the exposure, the higher the risk of getting a disease,” Lemen said. “The risk is how much a person takes into their body, as their body accumulates these indestructible fibers, that’s when we see disease.”  Lemen was allowed to testify Monday only as an expert epidemiologist after Judge Donald Molloy ruled that the prosecution could not also offer him as an expert industrial hygienist because they did not previously disclose him as one. Lemen served in the U.S. Army assessing health issues before going on to a decorated career in the Public Health Service, reaching the highest non-politically appointed position in the agency.

Environmental expert Jay Exum testified last week that pulling as much water as Niagara Bottling proposes to do in south Lake County, FL, could reduce the size of the area's wetlands over the long term.  Exum was called as an expert for Groveland during an administrative hearing into the city's challenge of a water permit for the California-based bottler.  OrlandoSentinel.com reports:

Niagara is applying for a permit from the St. Johns River Water Management District to draw as much as 484,000 gallons a day, bottle the water and then sell it. Groveland is fighting the request, saying it is not in the public interest.

Groveland called Charles Drake, an Orlando geology expert, to testify about the possible impact of Niagara pulling water from the aquifer.  Drake said Niagara's permit would diminish groundwater resources -- wetlands and lakes. But under cross examination by Niagara he agreed that the drawdown could be as minimal as 1.2 inches.